BELOVED:
”My Beloved is Mine and I am His” Is what is inscribed inside my wedding ring.
(David’s is: “My Beloved is Mine and I am Hers”)
This comes from the Bible – Song of Solomon 2:16.
We wanted that inscribed into our rings to remind us, daily that we are Each Other’s Forever. We did this as an engaged couple knowing that the road of marriage would not always be smooth.
Now that we’ve been married only 6 1/2 years, I can already tell you…it is NOT always smooth. Marriage is a job, something to be continually worked at. I don’t think anyone REALLY explained this to me before I got married.
As you know the divorce rate in this country is 50% of all first time marriages end in divorce.
Knowing this, David and I have been unsatisfied with our process of how we do wedding photography. I believe we are able to capture amazing and special moments of a couple’s wedding day and memories that they TRULY will cherish for the rest of their lives. But then what?
We’ve talked over the years about what we could do for couples, maybe on their anniversary, to remind them of that amazing love they have for one another and to keep working on it, to stay happy and stay together. We’ve sent a few messages in our annual Christmas cards, but we just felt like something HUGE was lacking. The wedding day, is just the beginning….how can we help encourage couple’s down the road? This year on our anniversary we did a photo shoot of ourselves and that got us thinking about Anniversary Sessions….but nothing came of it.
This March David and I had the amazing opportunity to go to Las Vegas to WPPI.
It was there that we first heard of Jesh De Rox when we attended his seminar.
Jesh De Rox is the visionary and artist who created the Beloved Sessions. The whole vision behind Beloved Sessions or the Beloved Movement is that through “experiential photography”, you can not only capture authenticity of a person(s) being, but also help enable them to take that authenticity, accept it, embrace it and use it to enhance their personal relationships.
Quote from the Beloved Movement website: “While the technique was successful in inviting his clients to genuine expression, something amazing and unexpected happened – the couples he worked with began telling him the sessions were enabling them to experience an intense increase in their connection that lingered long after the session was over. Some went so far as to describe the experience as ‘life-changing’ and ‘one of the best days of their life’.”
Jesh continued to explore this experience with what he called Beloved Sessions.
“The concept was to explore photography as a means to celebrate and renew relationships, the emphasis being to create the ideal environment for the couple to experience each other. Instead of taking images of people and trying to make them look happy or in love, he focused on inviting them to a place where they were feeling incredible joy and deep love, acutely aware of their connection with one another, and then capturing those powerful, genuine expressions.” http://www.thebelovedmovement.org/?page_id=20
So, what are Beloved Sessions by Locke Innovations exactly?
First off, it’s not a photo shoot. It’s an experience for a married couple to walk through together. Using different experiential ideas from Jesh and some of our own that we’ve learned through our shooting experiences, you are given different ideas to think about, things to walk through together, memories to create and to remember.
All of the “experiences” are to help focus you, and invite you to those thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are ALREADY inside you….and bring them to the surface for you to experience. Some are fun and silly, some are lovey & romantic, some are serious and contemplative, and some are for healing.
If we’ve shot your wedding you know that we don’t stand for “being fake.” How many times did I call you out during your shoot or your wedding day, telling you that you were “faking it”? Why do we do that? Because we want Authenticity! And really so do you! No one REALLY likes it when they’re just cheesing it up for the camera. The ones’ you love – are the genuine real emotions you can see played on your face, be that happy, sad, in love, nervous, etc…Authenticity is what we long for!
Why photograph it?
This is a great exercise for married couples to do now and then, helping them reconnect and be aware of each other. It’s going to be great for a couple with or without the photographs…just the experience. So, why snap photos throughout the experience?
Next time, you have a horrible day at work, or the house is a wreck, or the kids are driving you crazy, and your ‘to do’ list is a mile long, or your in-laws are getting under your skin, and your spouse just says or does the wrong thing….it’s not even the THING she/he did or said that was so horrible, it’s just all the little tiny things of life that get us down stacking on top of each other and eventually they’ve made this big tower of issues….and you blow up…or your spouse blows up….and you fight…
Wouldn’t it be great to have a canvas on your wall….that has a photograph or two of you and your spouse having a real authentic moment and experience…to REMIND you of what’s really inside of you? To Remind you of your love?
David & I want to help you REMEMBER who your Beloved is, and REMEMBER that on a beautiful day a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 25 years ago, 50 years ago, you stood up in front of your family and closest friends and promised forever to your Beloved. “My Beloved is Mine and I am His”.
And maybe, just maybe….those little reminders will help you get through the tough parts, the hard stuff, and get you to that next Anniversary!
We would LOVE it, if we could help Remind you and your Beloved!
~Shannon & David Perlow
Locke Innovations Photography
A Beloved Session Photograph:
